Magna Carta Mag 600 first impressions

[Geert Jan]

These are my first impression of using a Maga Carta Mag 600 for a few weeks. I just saw Stephen Brown reviewed this pen. I haven’t watched that video, first get this out of the door.

 

Over the years I’ve been looking for a modern flex-nibbed pen. I can’t be bothered by hunting for the perfect vintage flex pen (if such a beast exists). I was triggered when I saw the Magna Carta Mag 600 called vintage-style flex in a modern pen.

The pen, in my case in ‘Rustic Red’; the alternative is black with gold trim. Quite a large pen, mostly straight. Despite its size it’s fairly light: inked up 28 g for the whole pen, 11.5 g in the cap and 16.5 g for body. Ink is via a converter (Schmidt), which fits very snugly. I think you can eyedropper it. The cap opens in 1.75 rotations, a bit more than I would like and threads are triple-start. I’ve experienced no issues with nib dry-out. The cap doesn’t post; the most you can get is about 1 cm onto the barrel and very wobbly and loose.

Though I can try to describe my experience, I think it’s far easier to just show. I tried to write with about equal pressure . Ink is Akkerman #8 Diep Duinwater Blauw (pretty easy to flush out, as I don’t need 4 pens inked with the same ink at the same time; fortunately the Ti nib was loaded with something else, and Diamine Ancient Copper looks quite lovely here). Paper is Clairefontaine DCP 90 gsm.  (note the Omas Extra nib may be vintage, it is set in a modern pen). Contary to what some people think: a flex nib does not improve your handwriting instantaneously, it just makes is much easier to add flourishes to you chicken scratchings.

The nib is pretty soft and flexy, this is definitely not a pen for a heavy-handed writer (I’m more at the other end; I can never get line variation out of a Jowo nib). I think the flex claim is true. I love the long section, and its diameter fits my hand perfectly.

 

Downsides: when the pen arrived the times were slightly misaligned and the feed was cut at a bit of a slant. Polishing of the pen could have done with another step, now you can spot some micro scratches. The box (now safely hidden in a cupboard) is a plain cardboard one (so no money wasted on overly fancy packaging). I would have liked a booklet with a little background on the company and the making of this nib.

This pen will almost certainly be in permanent rotation, not suffering from nagging voice in my head to go out and hunt for the next one.

[half_inked_one]

In your photos it seems to be made out of acrylics, not ebonite; at the appelboom's website it states it is ebonite. Could please confirm? No problem with either, just curious.

[Paul-in-SF]

1 hour ago, half_inked_one said:

In your photos it seems to be made out of acrylics, not ebonite; at the appelboom's website it states it is ebonite. Could please confirm? No problem with either, just curious.

 

Currently the Appelboom listing is saying: "The Magna Carta Mag 600 luxury fountain pen is a true connoisseur’s delight. It is crafted with resin and decorated with 24K PVD gold plated trim." (They also have the total length as 146 mm rather than 150). The black model is made of ebonite, at the same price. 

[pen_master]

Thanks for your review! I too own this pen and agree it is a very different feeling when you haven't used flex before. Creates beautiful lettering that I never thought I could do before. It's also given me a new found appreciation for EF/F nibs as non-flexing is about this thickness. I like it a lot.

 

My pen had an oddly shaped feed as well and the tines click back and forth depending on the angle. I heat set the ebonite feed, which has made a world of difference to flow. This pen is quite sensitive to the flow of your ink. I cannot use Yama-budo, unfortunately, as it it far too wet and continually blobs. You'll get a few words in and the splash. You can even look at the nib and watch the ink pool near the tip. Don't even think about Emerald of Chivor. Drip drip drip. 

 

Using the amazing work done on the forum by InesF on surface tension, I swapped it out for R&K Cassia. Perfect! I tried Tsuki-yo (less wet than Yama-budo according to the surface tension) and it does perform much better. I think that is my upper limit for wetness, so any ink under that it what I will have to stick to. 

 

Currently, I have FWP Tokyo Bay Blue. It is not on the list but very very dry. So, I get no burps, but when trying to flex, it cannot hold the tension needed, leading to railroading. I purposely did not shake it to get particles, so it may be even worse when used in that way.

 

I use this pen as an eyedropper, in case you were wondering, and it works great in that capacity. I'm happy about my purchase and recommend it with the above caveats. 

[half_inked_one]

18 hours ago, Paul-in-SF said:

 

Currently the Appelboom listing is saying: "The Magna Carta Mag 600 luxury fountain pen is a true connoisseur’s delight. It is crafted with resin and decorated with 24K PVD gold plated trim." (They also have the total length as 146 mm rather than 150). The black model is made of ebonite, at the same price. 

Ok, now I can be sure it is acrylic, thank you. I usually avoid black pens with gold furniture at all costs, so the black ebonite version was out of question anyway.

 

@pen_master

Thank you for your description of experiences with inks! For such inexperienced flex user like me, it can be a critical info - to know which inks should and which should not be used. First I will try it with converter only, maybe I will go to eyedropper mode once I feel more safe using this nib.

 

[sannidh]

Thank you for sharing this review. Your flair with flex nibs is definitely noticeable 

• I'm wondering whether the nib is Bock #6 or Kanwrite #6? The nib on the Mag 1000 nib seems more Bockish (#8) than the #6 one. 
• Does the pen feel lighter than you expected ?

[metalhead]

2 minutes ago, sannidh said:

Bock #6 or Kanwrite #6?

If you are asking about Mag600/1000 - Magna Carta make their own nibs. Mag600 is a flex nib, i think is 14k gold while Mag1000 is a whopping size #10 steel nib they came up with last year. KW makes a #10 nib as well, but its a different design and its shorter.

[K Singh]

20 hours ago, rnjn said:

If you are asking about Mag600/1000 - Magna Carta make their own nibs. Mag600 is a flex nib, i think is 14k gold while Mag1000 is a whopping size #10 steel nib they came up with last year. KW makes a #10 nib as well, but its a different design and its shorter.

The one that Kanwrite makes is a #9 nib with a 9mm feed. Only Magna Carta offers #10 nib as of now in India. Pens point/delmoon brand is also working on a giant gold nib, but there is no update on when it will launch.

[metalhead]

29 minutes ago, K Singh said:

Kanwrite makes is a #9 nib

You are right, thanks.

[Geert Jan]

On 1/27/2024 at 2:18 PM, sannidh said:

Thank you for sharing this review. Your flair with flex nibs is definitely noticeable 

• I'm wondering whether the nib is Bock #6 or Kanwrite #6? The nib on the Mag 1000 nib seems more Bockish (#8) than the #6 one. 
• Does the pen feel lighter than you expected ?

You're too kind, I think my handwriting is pretty horrible, I'm just trying to hide the worst of it. I really need to re-learn cursive, I think.
You already received the answer regarding the nib: it's an in-house nib. I really think Magna Carta can put more emhasis on that, without risking to be accused of boasting.
To me the weight of the pen is about as expected (now empty:16 g for just the pen without cap, and ready to be re-filled). Comparing with a Pelikan M800 (which is a smaller pen), you can label this one as light. The brass piston mechanism in the Pelikan adds quite a bit of weight in that pen. I guess the Mag 600 is not a particularly heavy pen (and perhaps the black ebonite is even lighter?). As this is all pretty subjective, I've included weights&measurements so you can form your own opinion.

[InesF]

On 1/24/2024 at 7:28 PM, Geert Jan said:

Though I can try to describe my experience, I think it’s far easier to just show. I tried to write with about equal pressure . Ink is Akkerman #8 Diep Duinwater Blauw (pretty easy to flush out, as I don’t need 4 pens inked with the same ink at the same time; fortunately the Ti nib was loaded with something else, and Diamine Ancient Copper looks quite lovely here). Paper is Clairefontaine DCP 90 gsm.  (note the Omas Extra nib may be vintage, it is set in a modern pen). Contary to what some people think: a flex nib does not improve your handwriting instantaneously, it just makes is much easier to add flourishes to you chicken scratchings.

Thank you @Geert Jan for the review and especially for the photos! The measurements are very useful and your handwriting comparison is, despite a bit low resolution, enlightening.

I chased flex nibs in modern fountain pens for quite a while now and was happy with the (expensive) Scribo EF-flex.

I understood that the Mag600 is not a limited edition pen, allowing me to think a bit longer about to buy or not to buy.  

[Geert Jan]

4 hours ago, InesF said:

Thank you @Geert Jan for the review and especially for the photos! The measurements are very useful and your handwriting comparison is, despite a bit low resolution, enlightening.

I chased flex nibs in modern fountain pens for quite a while now and was happy with the (expensive) Scribo EF-flex.

I understood that the Mag600 is not a limited edition pen, allowing me to think a bit longer about to buy or not to buy.  

I really love my Scribo EF flexible, but it's definitely a different experience. It's a balance flex vs smoothness. The Scribo does flex but not as well as the Mag 600. On the other hand the Scribo is a lot smoother. The Mag 600 does give more feedback, though it depends on the paper and ink. On Tomoe River I found it to be more pronounced, but on coated Oxford Optik and Clairefontaine DCP I found it to be more well-behaved. Changing to a different ink, still Akkerman but now #10 IJzer-galnoten blauw already reduces feedback on Tomoe River significantly.

I don't think the Mag 600 is a limited edition (never mentioned), and the Scribo nibs certainly aren't (the resins may change). This should give you time to make your choice. I wish I had that restraint 😀 In the end, I wouldn't want to part with either.

[InesF]

19 hours ago, Geert Jan said:

I really love my Scribo EF flexible, but it's definitely a different experience. It's a balance flex vs smoothness. The Scribo does flex but not as well as the Mag 600. On the other hand the Scribo is a lot smoother. The Mag 600 does give more feedback, though it depends on the paper and ink. On Tomoe River I found it to be more pronounced, but on coated Oxford Optik and Clairefontaine DCP I found it to be more well-behaved. Changing to a different ink, still Akkerman but now #10 IJzer-galnoten blauw already reduces feedback on Tomoe River significantly.

Thank you for the details! I can imagine now very well what a Mag600 can provide. +1 👍

[BarryF]

I am new to the forum so please be gentle to me. 
I just purchased a mag 600 from Pen Chalet at an excellent price. It came in a box inside a box inside the mailing box! All very nice, but I am no box collector, nor a pen collector for that matter. I filled with Montblanc Mystery Black and indeed found the flow on the high side. The nib was scratchy but a quick polish with some 12000 abrasive paper seems to have cured that. The nib didn’t flex all that well initially but now it’s fine, could it be due to a coating they put on new nibs?  Under magnification the top of the nib has a lot of manufacturing marks, but I will attempt to polishi it up. 
I am new to calligraphy and I look forward to using it for copperplate  

Barry

oh, mine is black Ebonte, whatever that is!

[Geert Jan]

I won't claim I'm an expert but I do have a couple of suggestions:

• Before going with any form of polishing action on the tipping check alignment first
• Initial issues may have something to do with residual oils from production? I don't know if you flushed the pen first (which is supposed to deal with this)
• Let's refer to Richard Binder who'considered to be an expert (or more)
  general notes on nib tuning
  his workshop on tuning
• Ink flow: if flow is too generous, try if you can blame the ink first 😉 Then if using different inks it's still too wet, you have the advantage of an ebonite feed. This you can heat-set (heat the feed in near-boiling water, pull it out and squeeze nib and feed together). I defer to any experts having a better way of fixing it, or better instructions on heat-setting (note you can do this with ebonite feeds, don't know about plastic feeds).

And I quite agree about the box: I haven't encountered a single box that writes as well as even a bog-standard pen.

[sannidh]

 

On 1/27/2024 at 6:54 PM, ignord said:

If you are asking about Mag600/1000 - Magna Carta make their own nibs. Mag600 is a flex nib, i think is 14k gold while Mag1000 is a whopping size #10 steel nib they came up with last year. KW makes a #10 nib as well, but its a different design and its shorter.

Thank you. I checked with Sandeep Ji (Kanwrite owner), and it appears that their 14k flex nib is shaped differently. It is also available with a Bock-compatible housing. I may look for another P36 to house that in. I may find another P36 to house that in, I think the India price is quite attractive.

 

On 1/29/2024 at 12:21 PM, Geert Jan said:

You're too kind, I think my handwriting is pretty horrible, I'm just trying to hide the worst of it. I really need to re-learn cursive, I think.
You already received the answer regarding the nib: it's an in-house nib. I really think Magna Carta can put more emhasis on that, without risking to be accused of boasting.
To me the weight of the pen is about as expected (now empty:16 g for just the pen without cap, and ready to be re-filled). Comparing with a Pelikan M800 (which is a smaller pen), you can label this one as light. The brass piston mechanism in the Pelikan adds quite a bit of weight in that pen. I guess the Mag 600 is not a particularly heavy pen (and perhaps the black ebonite is even lighter?). As this is all pretty subjective, I've included weights&measurements so you can form your own opinion.

Does the Magna Carta company,  do any nib tuning before dispatch? 

Thank you for explaining the weight factor, so well. I do not think, the Mag600 is for me. Like yourself, I do use a Scribo with Fine Flex 14k (as usual everything Scribo is an LE), their nib has been the closest to old Omas nibs, if not the same. Horrible inscription, thank God they did not use Comic Sans font to make us "Feel the Flex". 

[Geert Jan]

On 1/25/2024 at 7:08 PM, Paul-in-SF said:

"The Magna Carta Mag 600 luxury fountain pen is a true connoisseur’s delight. It is crafted with resin and decorated with 24K PVD gold plated trim." (They also have the total length as 146 mm rather than 150).

The material is probably correct, but my pen is defintely 150mm capped. Perhaps the 146 mm refers to the black ebonite?

30 minutes ago, sannidh said:

Does the Magna Carta company,  do any nib tuning before dispatch? 

Thank you for explaining the weight factor, so well. I do not think, the Mag600 is for me. Like yourself, I do use a Scribo with Fine Flex 14k (as usual everything Scribo is an LE), their nib has been the closest to old Omas nibs, if not the same. Horrible inscription, thank God they did not use Comic Sans font to make us "Feel the Flex".

I don't think it's nib tuning. I would consider that as tuning to your individual needs. I wasn't asked on my writing style (something Nakaya did, and probably still does). So it would be adjusting to make sure the nib isn't horribly misaligned and there is some flow. I found a s light misalignment, but that may have been caused during transport. Flow was generous (too generous at first, so I ddi some heat-setting).

I think the Scribo nibs are essentially the same as the (later) Omas nibs. As far as I know they are made with the same tooling as the Omas nibs and by the same company (Bock). I'm not enough of an Omas expert to comment on difference between in-house nibs and nibs made by Bock using the same tooling. And I fullu agree the "Feel the writing"/"Feel the flex" is cringeworthy, and I hope they change to another design soon.